Summary

This article was written by Jesse Leavenworth, Dave Altimari and David Owensa. It was
published on 12 May 2011 and it was published at The Courant (www.courant.com).
A mass shooting was occured on August 3, 2010, in Manchester, Connecticut, United
States. The location of the crime was a warehouse owned by Hartford Distributors, a beer
distribution company. Omar Thornton, a warehouse driver fatally shot eight co-workers and
injured two before committing suicide.
The main motive that led to the slaughter was Thornton's thievery. He had been recorded
on video in the Hartford Distributors warehouse stealing beer off his truck. Given the options of
being fired or resigning, he signed the resignation letter after conferring with his union
representative, Bryan Cirigliano. Besides that, Thornton had also complained of racial
harassment to his family and friends because of a racist bathroom graffiti in the company.
Thornton pulled out a pistol and began to carry out a massacre. He chased and shot his
co-workers in the company. In the end, he murdered eight people and seriously injured two
others. When he saw the police arriving and entering the building, he promptly hid in a locked
office and called his mother, Lillie Holliday, telling her what he had done. After the four-minute
conversation, Thornton hung up and killed himself.

Application of Emotional Intelligence Aspects/Terms

Emotions bridge thought, feeling and action. They can affect many aspects of a person,
and the person affects many aspects of the emotion.
In interpersonal realm, empathy is defined as the ability to recognize and understand how
people feel, anticipate other's needs, work with many different types of people, understand why
others act in certain way. Basically it is about the ability to view the world through another
person's eyes. Thornton showed no empathy and mercy towards his co-workers. According to
Huffington Post, one of the victim said that Thornton was cool and calm, he was cold as ice. A
witness, Aaron Hollander, reported to the police that Thornton was even laughing at the time.
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This was totally cruelty beyond cruelty. He did not realize how his anger and aggressiveness can
bring other people harm and pain especially the pain that the victims' family as well as
Thornton's family gone through.
Under stress management, impulse control refers to the ability to resist or delay an
impulse, drive or temptation to act. It entails a capacity for accepting a person's aggressiveness
impulses, being composed, and controlling aggression, hostility and irresponsible. In this case,
This tragedy was apparently driven by the anger of being fired by his superior. He failed to
control his emotion and hence, it led to this bloody rampage. The first person shot were
managers or executives involved in his firing. Apart from that, Thornton, who is black, had
complained of racial harassment for months to his family and friends and indicated that he did
target people. He murdered his co-workers who he thought they were racists as told his mother
he had shot "five of the most racist ones."
In adaptability realm, problem solving refers to the ability to identify and define problems
as well as to generate and implement potentially effective solutions. In this case, it is pretty
obvious that Thornton did not identify the main reason that caused his firing was his thievery in
the first place. Instead of using force, he should accept his mistakes and change it. He had not
learnt that violence can never solve a problem but only make it more acute and worse. Other than
that, if there were racial discrimination in the company, he could have make a complaint with
union or any government agency. However, a union official said Thornton had not filed a
complaint of racism.

Recommendations
There are several ways to avoid unnecessary bloodshed in workplace. First of all, training
program should be provided by the company to both supervisors and employees. Supervisors
should be trained to identify violence risks and be sensitive to the fact that seemingly small
issues can sometimes escalate into harassment or workplace violence, and report all the possible
threats to management immediately. Besides that, supervisors also need to be trained in conflict
resolution and recognizing early detection of worker anger. Whereas employees should be

trained in stress management and trained regarding their responsibility to report threats or
violence.
Secondly, best weapon against impulsive behavior is to force oneself to pause and think
before acting. When we feel ourselves being impulsive and impatient, take five deep breaths to
calm ourselves. If the feeling of losing control still go on, we should redirect our mind on other
thing that can make us feel better and positively. For instance, Thornton should accept the reality
of being fired because of his wrongdoing. He can calm himself by going for a walk to get some
fresh air, or some other form of physical exercise or work that can clear his mind. Another option
is to discuss the problem with someone trustworthy and then patiently and actively listen to their
advices.
Thirdly, we should learn to be respectful and be assertive. If we have to work with
someone we do not get along so well, we should set aside our pride and ego. Instead, we can
treat the person with courtesy and respect. We need to bear in mind that just because this person
behaves in an unprofessional manner, does not mean we should as well, and it is impossible to
make everyone to like us. If the person is extremely rude and unprofessional, we should firmly
explain that we refuse to be treated that way, and peacefully withdraw from the situation. In this
case, as mentioned, Thornton can file a complaint of racism if he was treated unfairly and was
discriminated instead of carrying on his vendetta.

Conclusion
This tragedy was indeed a senseless act of violence that left us all shaken and reminds us
just how precious and fragile life truly is. In short, emotional intelligence is important as it
creates a positive and productive working environment. Both employers and employees have to
work together in preventing workplace violence from happening in the future.